May routine:

*Dad and I go to YMCA gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

*Tuesday, I volunteer in the church office and/or at the North River Care Pregnancy Center

*Wednesday, I go to choir practice in the evening

*Once a month, I attend a “senior” supper at church

*On Sunday, Dad and I and Emma go to Sunday school and church.

*The last week of this month, I added two more routine activities:

• I joined the visitation team at church. Every other week, I go with another volunteer to visit two members of the church that are shut-in or at a rehabilitation center.
• I became a member of the board of the North River Care Pregnancy Center and will be attending monthly board meetings.

May special occasions:

*Mothers’s Day – May 12^th . JP took me out for a steak lunch.

*Emma’s graduation from Williams Elementary Kindergarten – May 23. Dad and I attended the “celebration” along with her proud parents, JP and Kellie.

*I celebrated my last day of being 66.

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Out of the Ordinary:

*Dad and I went shopping at the local Harbor Freight store to buy items to include in a raffle item I am donating for the North River Care Pregnancy Center golf tournament. It will be a hurricane preparedness kit.

* On Monday, 5/6, my laptop computer died. A couple of days later, JP helped me pick out another one at Best Buy and the Geek Squad transferred all my documents and pictures from the old one allowing me to pick up the new one a week later.

*Dad went to his primary care physician and got a good report from his doc. He doesn’t have to go back for 6 months.

*I went to my primary care physician for a three-month checkup. He says I might have some bursitis and will run some special blood tests before my next three-month check.

*I was able to make reservations to go to Compass Cay on Friday, August 2 and return on Monday, August 5^th. JP and his family will be joining me this year at Lilly’s high on the bluff overlooking the marina where Rick and I spent several very happy years in our boat, On the Hook. My brother, Rick, will come over to stay with Dad while I am gone. (Dad is excited about his “boys” weekend.)

*We all enjoyed a short visit from my nephew, Mat and his girlfriend, Lindsay.  They had to go back to Knoxville to return to work, but they have both given their notices and plan to start an extended trip up the east coast, through Canada, down the west coast and back within the next month or two.

*JP, Kellie and Emma went to “Sun and Fun” in Sarasota for Memorial Day weekend.

*Dad and I helped at the North River Care annual golf tournament at the River Club in Bradenton arriving at 7 a.m. to sell 50/50 tickets at registration and again at the end of the tournament. The winner received more than $500.  We purchased $20 in raffle tickets and came home with two gift certificates to local restaurants.

*On my last day of being 66 years old (my birthday is June 1), I received a lovely dish garden (pictured below) from my nephew (and God son) Mat and his girlfriend, Lindsay.

In the evening, we joined friends and family at the Riverside Café in Palmetto to jointly celebrate my friend, Ruth Baker, and my birthday’s. Let me give you a little history about us celebrating our birthday’s together. Rick and I had been on a boat trip to the Bahamas with two other couples just before my 50^th birthday. We were back in the States at Captiva Island the day before my birthday to meet with our friends when we received word that Rick’s sister’s step-son, Steve, had passed away. Knowing that we would have to leave first thing the next morning, I told Ruth that I would celebrate my last day of being 49 and she could celebrate the next day. Ever since then, most often, we celebrate together on my last day of being a certain age. I had such a good time at the dinner that I forgot to take any pictures. The picture below is from last year. We ate at the same place and drank the same kind of wine along with eating a great meal. This year, along with my son, JP, and my father, we were joined by Rick’s Aunt Tillie and Uncle Jimmy who recently moved from Andros Island in the Bahamas to the Twin Dolphins Marina in Bradenton which is just across the Manatee River from the Riverside Café.

As my recuperation from hip surgery continues this month, there are no real routine activities. Dad and I did return to the YMCA gym after I finished with home healthcare therapy, but I am not using any of the machines that work the legs yet, except for walking on the treadmill at the very slowest speed. Emma and I have developed a new routine activity. She loves helping me water my potted plants, so we do that almost every afternoon when she gets home from school.

Monday, 4/1 through Sunday 4/7

I saw my primary doc for a follow-up appointment. He thinks I am healing remarkably well. In the afternoon, Dad and I returned to the YMCA. I had lunch with my friend Jackie at a nearby Beef O’Brady’s. On Saturday, Dad and I drove to the nearby Little Manatee River State Park where my brother Bill and his wife Mary are planning to stay in November. We drove around the park, stopping at the trailhead, then the picnic area and finally through the campground.

Monday, 4/8 thru Sunday, 4/14

Dad knows that I want to go over to Compass Cay (where Rick and I spent several very happy years) on the anniversary of Rick’s death in July. He also knows that I think he needs to have someone come in to help him while I’m gone for three days. He wanted to try to stay by himself. So, I showed him all the steps I went through to make his grits and fry his eggs and make toast. Then, I showed him the five pills he took every morning and had him crush them and mix them in pudding. Then I showed him where to put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher and load the dishwasher with the dirty dishes from breakfast. By that time, he decided that it would be better if I get someone to come in to do those things for him.

Jackie helped me go shopping for an Easter dress. I got my haircut and a manicure and pedicure and got the car washed. On April 12^th, I remembered fondly my sister-in-law, Eileen (Rick’s sister) who would have been 73 today. On Saturday, Dad and I drove south to the Myakka River State Park (another place my brother and sister-in-law plan to stay in November/December). I went the “less traveled route” and we entered the park at the north entrance rather than the main entrance. Our first stop was at the “Birdwalk”. We parked the car and walked a short distance out on a dock over a lake where many different species of birds could be seen. We saw some white pelicans floating on the lake, but they were too far away for me to get a good picture. Next, we stopped at the “Boat basin and Concession”. This is where much of the “action is”. I did not go into the second story restaurant, but one of the brochures they gave us when we entered the park says that one item on the menu is alligator stew.

I know that Myakka River State Park is well known for its alligators, but Dad and I didn’t see a single one today. Besides a place to eat, you can also take a boat tour or a tram tour and you can rent a bicycle or canoe here. Apparently in and around this area is also a favorite “hangout” for wild turkeys. We saw about a dozen of them on the other side of the waterway resting in the shade of a tree. Again, unfortunately too far way for me to get a good picture. Below is where the two tour boats dock.

After leaving here, driving south in the park, we went pass the “Canopy Walk and Nature Trail”. This is a unique elevated trail which allows you to enjoy nature from tree-top heights. My son tells me that you can see for miles around when you are up there. Since Dad and I are both using canes to get around, we opted to skip this very popular part of the park. Before leaving the park, through the main entrance on State Road 72, we saw the drive-through campsite where my brother and his wife will be staying after Thanksgiving. There was a very large RV occupying it today.

While we were gone, our “lawn guy” changed out the mulch in my yard for stones and planted a few more colorful plants in front of JP’s entrance to the house. In the evening, we enjoyed grilled hamburgers and hotdogs with JP, Kellie, Emma and one of her friends. All in all, it was a very nice day. On Sunday, Dad and I attended the performance of the 2019 Easter cantata performance at Palm View First Baptist Church. It was inspiring!

Monday, 4/15 through Thursday, 4/18

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On Monday, we had an appointment with and elder tax law attorney to review Dad’s existing trust which was written in 1993. She made some very good suggestions and will be updating it in the next couple of weeks. I bought Dad a new blue (to match his eyes) dress shirt to wear to church on Easter morning and he got his hair cut. Mid-week, JP took me to the Sun City Walmart where he helped me pick out a large planter and flowering plant to add to my front yard. The lawn guy cleared out an area for a planter next to my pigmy palm when he replaced my mulch with rock on Saturday. See picture below.

We are also just starting to see the hundreds of magnolia trees in the neighborhood bloom. Even though mine are small, they have some blooms.

I sent birthday wishes to my brother-in-law, Edward Hoffmeister on the 17^th which also happened to be Dad’s mother’s birthday. She would have been 110 years old. We were excited to have a visit from my brother Rick who lives in Geneva, Florida (near Sanford).

We had a nice “Easter-like” lunch (ham, potatoes au gratin and collard greens) before he returned home and I went for a post-op appointment with my hip doc on Thursday. The surgeon says everything looks good and I can resume all of my activities. He ordered another blood test to be run in the beginning of June and said that he would call me with those results. Unless something unexpected happens, I do not need to return to see him for a whole year!

Friday, 4/19 thru Tuesday, 4/30

During this period, my niece, Dr. Christina Cambre and her father, my brother Bill had birthdays. I won’t tell how old Christina is, but her father turned 60 and is preparing to retire soon. I received a text from Jackie on Friday, 4/19, telling me that Ken has been in Sarasota Memorial Hospital since Tuesday. They think he has pneumonia. I went to see him the next day. He seemed frustrated that they can’t seem to figure out exactly what has caused him to become so sick.

On Sunday, 4/21, we had a beautiful sunrise this Easter morning and are very glad to be alive.  Dad, Emma and I went to Sunday school and church. When we got home, Emma’s parents had arranged an Easter egg hunt in their front yard with a friend of hers from across the street. Dad and I had ham, asparagus and potato salad for our Easter lunch and relaxed the rest of the day.

Dad and I returned to our regular schedule of going to the YMCA gym on most Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. And, I returned to my volunteer work in my church office and at the North River Care Pregnancy Center. Jackie texted me that Ken had been transferred late Tuesday night to Moffitt Cancer Center, so I went up to visit with them on Wednesday and Thursday. The Moffitt doctors were able to determine the type of pneumonia that Ken has. They told him that he has mold growing in his lungs and it is called fungal pneumonia. It is curable, but Jackie will have to take him back to Moffitt every week for the next three months to get the treatment. The doctors told them that it was growing rapidly and it was a very good thing that they figured it out when they did as he was getting critical. While Ken was in Moffitt, they ran many tests and gave him several units of blood and platelets. They said airborne mold is pretty much everywhere, but because his immune system is compromised, he wasn’t able to fight it off like most people would do. Other tests results showed that his blood disease has not yet bloomed into Leukemia. That is very good news. I joined other “seniors” for a pot luck at church on Friday, 4/26. We also took this opportunity to surprise the minister of music with a cake for his birthday which was the previous Tuesday.

On Saturday, 4/27, JP and Kellie went out to dinner with one of his biking friends, so I kept Emma with me overnight so we could go to Sunday school and church.

On Tuesday, 4/30, I joined some Sunday school class members and friends at the theater to see the movie “Breakthrough.” – Very inspiring.